Bring it On: Cheerleading Still Most Dangerous Sport

By Kelly Turner on August 31st, 2009

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Cheerleading, yet again, tops to list of most dangerous sports despite recent efforts to make the sport safer.  It continues to cause more serious and deadly injuries than any other sport, hedging out gymnastics and track for the number 2 and 3 spots, respectively.

And to think people say cheerleading isn’t a sport.

From years 1982 to 2008, cheerleading accounted for 65.2 percent of high school and 70.5 percent of college fatal, disabling, and serious injuries out of all female sports.

I have to admit, I found this a little surprising. I did high school sports my whole life, but never tried cheerleading.  Aside from high school sports, I did competitive gymnastics most of my life and it was odd not to have an injury.  It was common place to have both ankles wrapped and soak in buckets of ice in between routines. I broke my back one year. I’ve seen shattered knee caps, torn ligaments, stress fractures from the repeated pounding on the joints and superficial injuries, like hand rips from bars, bruised thighs from “crotching” the beam, blood poisoning from getting chalk into hand rips, and black eyes from spotting gone wrong.

However, these, aside from my broken back, wouldn’t be classified as disabling or serious injuries.  In a sport where being thrown 15 feet into the air and relying on others to catch you is common place, it’s not hard to see cheerleading’s devastating possibilities.

When I think back on it, I can’t believe my parents shelled out thousands of dollars a month for something that has plagued me with knee and back pain to this day. (Yes, gymnastics is that expensive.)  Sports are dangerous, period, yet the teamwork, opportunities, camaraderie, and self esteem your child builds out weighs the risks. Right?

My parents weren’t overzealous stage parents in the least, and while they made it to every meet, they weren’t really that interested in my sport- and made no comments when I hobbled home from practice, sore and bruised, because they knew I loved it more than anything. I knew I could I stop whenever I wanted, which I eventually did to their checkbook’s delight, but until then, they supported me 100 percent, healthy or not.

Injuries are a part of every sport, but when does it go too far? When should parents step in and pull their kid from a dangerous sport- or should they ever?

(Photo By: Gulp and Aysha Manori)